Because water conservation is becoming ever more important, there are currently many water districts that restrict when irrigation can occur. As used hereafter, the term “water district” includes any private, governmental or quasi-governmental agency or any other entity that has the authority to mandate landscape watering restrictions. Many water districts across the United States are expected to implement landscape watering restrictions in the future. These watering restrictions can include even or odd calendar days, days of the week like Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. or Tuesday, Thursday. Saturday, and watering intervals. By way of further example, the Southern Nevada Water Authority (SNWA) does not permit landscape watering between 11:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. from May 1 to September 30. This is because it is well known that more water is wasted if landscape watering occurs during the hottest part of the day, particularly in late Spring, Summer and early Fall. As used herein, the term “watering restrictions” refers to any prohibitions or limits on landscape watering imposed by a water district, including days and times, which may or may not vary seasonally.
If watering restrictions are not too complex, it is possible, though tedious, for a user to program a residential or commercial irrigation controller so that the watering executed by the controller complies with the watering restrictions. Many cities are imposing fines if irrigation occurs outside of the restricted days and times.
Some water districts are mandating much more complex watering restrictions. These include restrictions that change during the year with seasonal changes including changing the days that watering is allowed, and making this change multiple times a year, changing what hours watering is allowed, and changing this multiple times each year, but not necessarily every time the days-to-water changes. As an example, the SNWA currently has six different watering groups (A-F) to which its customers have been assigned. Each customer must manage its irrigation to comply with the particular set of watering restrictions it has been assigned. Each one of the assigned set of watering restrictions changes four times through the year based on seasonal needs. The changes in each schedule include the days on which watering can occur. The changes in each set of watering restrictions may also include the hours during which watering is allowed to occur. There are also exemptions to these watering restrictions. For example, new lawns and new plants are exempt to allow them time to get established and therefore need to be managed separately. Drip irrigation also has different guidelines and may be managed independently of any watering restrictions.
Electronic irrigation controllers used in conjunction with residential and commercial landscaping typically execute watering programs that turn various zones or stations ON and OFF throughout the week in accordance with pre-programmed run and cycle times. As used herein, the term “watering program” refers to any set of instructions selected and/or defined by a user that are executed by a processor to accomplish the foregoing watering of turf, plants and other landscaping. In order for water users to comply with complex watering restrictions, and also maintain the health of their landscape, they need to re-program their conventional irrigation controllers four times per year so that the watering effectuated by its watering program complies with the watering restrictions. Some homeowners make an effort to re-program their controllers every few weeks to accommodate these restrictions. Most homeowners do not have the patience or ability to understand their irrigation needs well enough to do this. Many lack the technical skills to re-program their irrigation controllers to modify their watering programs so that they comply with complex watering restrictions. In some geographic locations, such as Scottsdale, Ariz., some homeowners only occupy their property on a seasonal basis, which increases the challenges for them to comply with watering restrictions. The only current option for homeowners and property owners who lack the skills to re-program their irrigation controllers in a complex manner is to hire an experienced irrigation expert to re-program their systems four times each year at their expense. Thus the growing population and depleting natural resources have created a need for a more convenient and reliable way of complying with watering restrictions.